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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Bottlegourd In Peanut Sauce

Bottlegourd or Sorakkai in Tamil, is a very bland vegetable, because of that, it can blend itself into any kind of dish, be it sweet or savory, it gets it taste from the other ingredients. Usually I make a kootu or dal or more kuzhambu with it, today for a change I made a peanut gravy with the vegetable. I was not too sure of the finished dish, but it turned out to be really rich and delicious..

Need To Have

Bottlegourd - 2 cups chopped

Capsicum - 1/2 chopped

Tomato - 1 big chopped

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Curry Leaves - a sprig

Coriander Leaves - to garnish

Roast And Grind

Peanuts - 1/4 cup

Coriander Seeds - 1 + 1/2 tablespoon

Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Sesame Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Fenugreek Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Green Chillies - 4 or 5

Ginger - 1 tablespoon chopped

Grind the ingredients under roast and grind

Add the paste and saute

Add the bottlegourd and tomatoes

Method
Dry roast the peanuts separately and the green chillies and ginger separately in a drop of oil. Roast the remaining ingredients, adding the sesame seeds last, grind everything into paste. Heat oil in a pressure pan, add the mustard and cumin seeds, once they stop sputtering, add the curry leaves, followed by the capsicum, saute for 3 mins, add the ground paste, mix for few mins. Now add the bottlegourd and the tomato, mix everything for some more time, add enough water (3 cups or more), close the lid. After one whistle, reduce the heat to low and cook for another 7 mins. Remove, garnish with the chopped coriander and serve warm with rotis or any kind of mixed rice, we had ours with ragi rotis.

It so happens that i bought my first bottle gourd today at the farmers market, after 2 and 1/2 years since marriage. I have never cooked it and bought it because the husband was willing to give it a try. Your recipe comes at a great time.